Check out this snippet from NPR. Apparently, political dissidents in Syria are turning to promotional products to sustain the momentum of ongoing protests:

A few weeks ago, anti-government organizers launched a new tactic; releasing tens of thousands of ping-pong balls across Damascus painted with the slogan, “Bashar must go.”

At first I was surprised that promo products had found their way into a political revolution. But then I remembered that politicians have been using promos to spread political messages for decades! These items are an affordable way to reach big groups of people, and they allow people to show unity and solidarity towards a cause. Both of these benefits are obviously important to Syrian dissidents, so it’s really no surprise they’ve started to use this strategy.